The Maersk Triple-E Mathilde Maersk makes it maiden call at the DP World Southampton container terminal at the port of Southampton on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.

The port call is part of the new AE2/Swan service offering faster transit times from Asia and the UK. The service is operated by the 2M Alliance (Maersk Line and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company), deploying 12 vessels including some of the world’s largest containerships like the Maersk Triple-E’s and MSC’s 19,224 TEU Oscar class. The Emma Maersk, part of Maersk’s E-Class vessels, is scheduled to call at the port next on November 2nd.

Friday, 30 October 2015

A new ambient-temperature food examination facility has been formally opened at the Port of Felixstowe, the Port of Britain, by Transport Minister, Robert Goodwill MP.

The £4 million investment included a major refurbishment and expansion of the examination facilities and the provision of new offices for Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority.

Commenting on the new facility, Robert Goodwill MP said:

"This new state-of-the-art facility will ensure that vital imported products stay as fresh as possible. Some 40 per cent of the food on our supermarket shelves arrives by sea, so it must be checked efficiently in the most hygienic conditions.

"The significant investment currently underway across the UK means our major ports remain world leaders, contributing billions to the UK economy and creating thousands of skilled jobs."

Steve Gallant, Suffolk Coastal District Council Cabinet Member for Community Health, said:

"The new inspection facilities are built to an incredibly high standard – safe, clean and hygienic – to maintain the integrity of the food chain to the highest requirements of upcoming legislation.

"We have a very productive partnership with the Port of Felixstowe, and this is delivering best practice in terms of Port Health. Now our staff are next door to each other, we can get examinations done even more quickly. Being neighbours will also allow a closer understanding of each other's business and that can only lead to even better efficiency and effectiveness in the future."

"We are committed to a programme of investment across all parts of the port to ensure our customers receive the highest possible levels of service. The new ambient-temperature facility is the latest example of this commitment. The dedication of our experienced examination facilities team, and the close working relationship they have with the Port Health authority, will ensure that together we deliver the very best, most efficient inspection process of any UK port."

The new facility covers an area of 3,045 square metres with a further 840 square metres of office space and meeting rooms for both port and Port Health staff. Separate examination chambers, including segregated areas for dusty products such as chilli, spices and other powders, allow multiple consignments to be examined without the risk of contamination.

MINISTERIAL ROUND TABLE AT PORT OF FELIXSTOWE

Transport Minister Robert Goodwill MP has taken part in a round table discussion with transport leaders from the ports, road, rail freight and shipping industry at the Port of Felixstowe, the Port of Britain.

Mr Goodwill's responsibilities at the Department for Transport include ports and shipping but the meeting, convened by Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, included discussions about the need for a joined-up approach connecting the maritime sector with other areas of transport policy.

Commenting on the meeting, Clemence Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Felixstowe and Managing Director of HPH Europe division, said:

"We were delighted to welcome Robert Goodwill and leaders from across the industry to participate in these discussions. As trade and the ships that carry it continue to grow, further pressure is placed on transport infrastructure and transport operators.

"It is essential for an efficient and seamless transport network for all elements of the supply chain to work together to drive efficiency. We believe that meetings such as these are important to foster greater levels of cooperation and understanding."

The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the UK, handling 44% of all UK container traffic. It also has the country's largest intermodal rail freight terminal and handled nearly 900,000 TEU by rail in 2014.

The importance of the port is recognised in the Government's National Infrastructure plan which includes improvements to its road and rail connections as leading priorities for investment.

The Port of Felixstowe will be advertising for Port Operatives opening on Thursday 5th November at 09.30hrs and closing on Monday 9th November at 17.00hrs.

Suitable applicants must:

Be aged 21 or over on 1st January 2016

Hold a full valid UK driving licence.

If you or anyone you know is interested in applying, please visit the careers page on the Port of Felixstowe website on the dates above and complete an online application form. CVs from individuals and agencies will not be accepted.

For queries or further information, please contact the Human Resources Department on 01394 602777.

It is essential that anybody applying for these positions to read the terms and conditions VERY carefully

Port workers are under significant risk when in the immediate environment of disposable cylinders, which support a black market in counterfeit refrigerants, according to Wilhelmsen Maritime Services.

Counterfeit refrigerant cylinders typically consist of a dangerously unstable cocktail of gases, blended to roughly mimic the most common refrigerant, R-134a.

These cylinders are often loaded with rogue gases such as R-40. Though similar to R-134a, R-40 reacts with aluminium to form trimethylaluminum, a highly volatile substance that, when exposed to air, can explode.

According to international insurer TT Club, R-40 contamination accounts for 0.2% of the world’s reefer container fleet, affecting around 2,500 reefers.

Some operators may be unaware of the potential risks of using counterfeit refrigerants, while others may be seeking to cut costs. However, the main reason these refrigerants continue to circulate is because of the continued existence of disposable cylinders.

Svenn Jacobsen, Technical Product Manager of Refrigeration at Wilhelmsen Ships Services, said: “These cylinders are the container of choice for the counterfeiter. Cheap and untraceable, no counterfeiter is ever going to get any complaints from their customers using this type of packaging.”

Jacobsen explains that counterfeiters offer what appear to be authentic, trademarked refrigerants. Despite the efforts of leading manufacturers such as Honeywell, Linde and Dupont, which have taken legal action to crack down on counterfeiters and changed packaging to discourage fakes, counterfeit refrigerants remain an industry menace.

Jacobsen continues: “If the legitimate refrigerant suppliers no longer provided refrigerants in disposable cylinders, the counterfeiters would be out of business. We don’t support their use and we believe a worldwide ban is far overdue.”

Whether or not a global ban on disposable cylinders will come into force anytime soon is unclear. In 2007, the European Union (EU) banned disposable refrigerant cylinders in the EU and on EU flagged vessels. However, disposable refrigerant cylinders are still in use elsewhere in the world.

While Jacobsen applauds the EU’s move to reduce the environmental impact of R-134a refrigerants, he cautions that these regulations may inadvertently create a strong market for suppliers of counterfeit refrigerants.

He said: “It is likely that the reduction in the supply of EU HFCs [hydrofluorocarbon] will lead to shortages and a sharp spike in costs, meaning some operators will be tempted to purchase lower-price refrigerants. This regulatory change will create an ideal market for counterfeiters.

Jacobsen concluded: “Despite numerous warnings, accidents and fatalities, many operators will be more willing to take a chance on gases packaged in disposable cylinders by unregistered suppliers. We anticipate that the counterfeiters of R-134a are going to be very busy in the years ahead.”

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

You want a practical example of what’s wrong with our membership of the EU? Consider the ham-fisted Brussels regulation that now threatens the viability of our commercial ports.

British ports are private, profitable and plentiful. They tend to be smaller than their European equivalents, and are dotted more thickly along our coasts. British ports, unusually, don’t rely on state aid, instead generating a healthy surplus for the Treasury and sustaining some 100,000 jobs.

The Continental model is very different. Ports on the other side of the Channel tend to be sparser and larger, and are generally either state-owned or dependent on grants. They are less likely than British ports, for reasons of geography, to compete with one another. The European Commission has therefore moved a regulation that would require them to introduce a measure of internal competition – in other words, to contract out their mooring, dredging, unloading, bunkering and so on to rival providers. The regulation also provides for the formal establishment of regulatory bodies: this is the EU, after all.

Now there may be a case for more competition within such gigantic ports as Rotterdam and Antwerp. Even if there is, I’m not sure that it needs to come from Brussels, but let’s leave that to one side; there is at least an argument to the effect that more diversity might lead to more efficiency and lower costs.

No such argument applies in the United Kingdom, where there is a thriving market, within which ports already compete against each other. Because our ports are relatively small, obligatory internal competition would wreck their economies of scale and deter investment. The companies that win the contracts for port services generally commit to major infrastructure costs: cranes, terminal facilities and the like. There is a widespread concern that the new rule – the Port Services Regulation – will kill such investment.

And here’s the thing: no one really denies it. You won’t find a single Commission official who thinks that the regulation will benefit Britain. Indeed, one senior Eurocrat privately indicated that the measure was never intended to apply to small ports outside the state sector.

So why not simply amend the legislation so as to exempt privately funded ports? An easy solution all round, you’d think. Except that the regulation has now become a battleground between those MEPs who want to retain generous state aid to their local ports (the MEP in charge of the bill, for example, represents Hamburg, which has had around a billion euros in subsidy since 2009) and those officials who want to reduce such grants. As long as that deadlock continues, no one wants to accept amendments about other things. Britain, in other words, is being held hostage in a wholly unrelated dispute.

Can’t British ministers and officials intervene? They seem oddly reluctant to push too hard, and I think I know the reason why. They are focused on the renegotiation of Britain’s membership terms – or, at least, on getting something out of the other states that can be presented as having had to be wrung out of them. This makes them reluctant to open new fronts.

In truth, though, the whole story reinforces the anti-EU case: Britain is adversely affected by Brussels rules that are not designed with our needs in mind, and can be outvoted even on matters where it has a vital national interest.

It is precisely our supineness in such cases that is pushing the country out of the EU. Art dealers, cheesemakers, slaughtermen, fund managers, trawlermen, steel workers, cider producers: all have suffered from EU rules designed to suit someone else. Now our ports, too, are set to join their number. No wonder more and more of us are concluding that Britain would be better off making its own laws.

Daniel Hannan is a Conservative Member of the European Parliament and blogs at www.hannan.co.uk.

This article is an exclusive for CapX, and is available for syndication. Please contacteditors@capx.co to discuss details.

Wincanton, UK largest logistics group, calls for action to train more lorry drivers as shortage of poses major threat to industry

Online shoppers will have to wait longer for their orders to arrive as a shortage of lorry drivers nears crisis levels, according to Britain’s largest logistics company.

Wincanton, which has about 5,500 drivers of large goods vehicle (LGVs), is calling for combined action from industry and the Government to tackle the issue before it causes serious problems to the wider economy and starts to hit consumers in the pocket.

Freight Transport Association figures show Britain needs another 60,000 LGV drivers in addition to the 326,000 qualified in the UK, but only 20,000 are entering the profession each year.

It won’t be a case of turkeys not being on supermarket shelves for Christmas... but smaller deliveries, such as those that end up in consumers’ homes will become much more delayed

Julie Welch, Wincanton

Julie Welch, HR director of Wincanton, said that as well as taking longer to arrive, deliveries could rise in price as companies fight for qualified drivers, pushing up wages.

“It won’t be a case of turkeys not being on supermarket shelves for Christmas, because the large companies can put more resources into the problem,” she said.

“It will be smaller deliveries, such as those that end up in consumers’ homes, that will become much more delayed. Companies like Amazon could be affected. The big food retailers that do home deliveries could raise minimum spending levels to make them more cost-effective as they seek efficiencies,” she added.

Feeding the crisis is the age profile of existing drivers. More than half of them are aged over 50 and facing retirement, according to Road Haulage Association figures, and the industry is having trouble attracting younger entrants, with fewer than 5pc of those behind the wheel being under 25.

Drivers qualified to carry loads such as petrol can see their wages hit £35,000 a year or more Photo: PA

There are also concerns that red tape could be blocking people from entering a job which can pay £35,000 a year, with higher rates for specialised qualifications such as driving fuel or chemical tankers.

“Rightly so, but health and safety laws now stop young people from spending a day in a lorry’s cab and getting to see what the job is about,” said Ms Welch. “People don’t get to learn about a career that pays well and has chances to progress.”

The high cost of becoming qualified to drive a large commercial vehicle also proves a big barrier to entry, according to Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association.

“Getting a truck licence costs somewhere between £3,000 and £5,000 – a huge amount of money for people trying to enter the industry – and most haulage businesses are small family companies who run on very small margins, so they too struggle to fund the training.”

Wincanton is now joining with industry bodies to lobby the Government to increase funding to the industry to support apprenticeships and training programmes for LGV drivers.